My undulated life

Sometimes I wonder how my life unfolded, how did I get here, and how did I become who I am now?

Looking back, I can see one incident that began to slowly form my life.

It was my first day of graduate school. Anxious, I left early for my orientation.

But I took the wrong bus, and by the time I made it to school, my group had already started their tour.

This was not helping my first-day jitters. I thought this might be a bad omen. Will I be this sloppy for the next two years?

Think … I need to get to know the layout of the campus and where everything is located.

I glanced around nervously, spotted another group that hadn’t started the tour yet and subtly joined them.

After we went around campus, I asked a few German exchange students if they wanted to grab lunch. Amid consumption of food, contemplating our student life, and discussing the weather, they told me about a meet-and-greet at the school pub later that week.

The day of the student gathering came, and I came down with a nasty cold. Considering that my voice was almost completely gone, I probably should have stayed home and sipped on warm tea. But I went to the pub anyway.

There was a long table that was reserved for the meeting of exchange students. Damn, I thought to myself. I wasn’t an exchange student, I did it again! I joined the wrong group. Will they even let me stay, or is this exclusive?

I sat down quietly (not that I could really talk). The table got filled with freshly-arrived-at-Canada students. We exchanged names, majors, stories, and it didn’t matter that I didn’t fit in the box anymore.

On that chilly night of January, I met amazing friends who took me on numerous adventures for the next year. I also gained lifelong friends who are now my “surrogate family”. I did, and will keep doing, amazing trips with them. I met the guy whom I continue to love to this day.

Mistakes, ups, downs, laughs, cries, it all comes together to make you the mesmerising being that you are. Perspective is something I like to ponder a lot, because it puts the puzzle pieces together, and shows that hey, life’s not so bad after all.